CHAPEL HILL, NC (TIP): Swadesh Chatterjee, an Indian American businessman, entrepreneur, and community leader, has been elected to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors for a four-year term.
Chatterjee, 75, was elected with five others — Dr. Pearl Burris-Floyd, C. Philip Byers, R. Gene Davis, Jr., H. Terry Hutchens, and J. Alex Mitchell — by a resolution of the North Carolina House on May 3 for terms commencing July 1, 2023, and ending June 30, 2027.
Chatterjee, chief executive officer of Swadesh Chatterjee & Associates, Inc is a Vice Chair of Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council, a group of successful international business leaders, policy experts, innovative entrepreneurs, and philanthropists who are committed to providing strategic financial support for UNC’s global mission.
The GLC is comprised of alumni and friends who are aligned with different schools and units, personally engaged with global topics, or have significant regional expertise and interests.
Chatterjee, who operated an industrial instrumentation company in North Carolina, is one of the co-founders and past presidents of TiE Carolinas, a group of businesspeople whose primary goal is to develop and assist fledgling entrepreneurs. He sits on the board of various pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and other life science companies in the US, Europe, and India. Last October North Carolina Governor Ray Cooper presented the State’s highest award, Order of the Long Leaf Pine to Chatterjee. Cooper described Chatterjee as a “spark plug among us” as he applauded his contribution not only to the development of North Carolina but also to the India-US relationship and enriching the cultural milieu of the United States. In January 2009, Chatterjee was inducted as a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council of People of Indian Origin.
In 2007 he was the first recipient of the Community Leader of the Year award by India Abroad. Chatterjee was conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards, by the President of India in 2001, in the public affairs category for building better relations between the US and India.
He is the author of Building Bridges: How Indian Americans Brought the United States and India Closer Together (2014). He has a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Calcutta and a Bachelor of Science in instrumentation and electronic engineering from Jadavpur University. He received his Master of Business Administration from North Carolina State University.